“It takes all year to get my class,” said Mello, the school’s admissions director. “I visit all 55 middle schools. I give a presentation at each school. After the students have applied, I return to their middle schools and interview each student.”

Selections are made in March by the admissions board, and Mello said decisions are determined by the students’ grades, conduct and attendance in the seventh and eighth grade at their respective schools, as well as letters of recommendation from teachers.

“It is a long process, but I do enjoy my job,” Mello said. “We had 350 applications for 130 seats.”

Bristol County Agricultural High School, commonly known as Bristol Aggie, was founded by an act of the Massachusetts Legislature in November 1912.

According to a published school history, a Board of Trustees and a director were appointed in 1913, and land was purchased near the center of Bristol County, on Center Street in the town of Dighton.

“We have always served all of Bristol County,” Mello said.

Bristol County Agricultural High School Superintendent Stephen Dempsey said he has “never seen such a welcoming and accepting whole school culture as exists at Bristol Aggie.”

“As you well know, the 20 cities and towns making up Bristol County are as diverse as can be along socioeconomic/ethnic and cultural strata,” Dempsey wrote in an email. “With geographic representation from all of these areas, kids come together at Bristol Aggie and mingle. And because of our small student population, they join together here and study, work, play, compete, partner, socialize and become friends. You couldn't find a better venue for bringing together kids from such varied backgrounds.”

“I am thrilled we will be ‘fully-represented’ by every part of Bristol County in next year's freshman class,” Dempsey added.